


The Play’s The Thing

by GhostBorzoi



Category: Ghosts (TV 2019)
Genre: Acting, Gen, Haha edit: this is on hold, Lion King jr, On Hiatus, Please don’t kill me if it’s terrible, Theatre Kids, There is a molecular amount of romance, finding yourself, give me feedback please!, it’s my first ever fanfic!, music prodigy, ok let’s do this, self discovery, sorry if the title is tacky it’s what I could think of, there is some not G stuff though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23671768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostBorzoi/pseuds/GhostBorzoi
Summary: Alison and Mike agree to have an acting camp hosted on the grounds during the summer, and the ghosts aren’t too happy, but when the camp starts, the ghosts find a way to help some mortals.
Relationships: Friendship - Relationship
Comments: 10
Kudos: 18





	1. We’ve decided to...

**Author's Note:**

> This work is PG except for a few parts, and I’ll point those out.I will try to update minimum once a month.(by the way, I don’t own ghosts). Enjoy!

All the ghosts of Button Hall (Except the plague ghosts, of course) were somewhere around the couch in the common room when Alison stood up. “Right everybody, as you know, Mike and I are short of cash to renovate this place,” she announced before hissing “as usual” under her breath. 

Thomas smiled.”So you’re FINALLY letting me write that novel under your name!”he asked.Alison shot Thomas a look and sighed. “No Thomas, I do not have time, nor money to print a book-“ 

Julian cut her off and said “Obviously not, silly, you couldn’t PAY people to read anything you wrote.Alison is most definitely going to do that semi-legal investment strategy I told her about!” Thomas looked crestfallen. “There’s no need to be rude,” Pat interjected before saying “anyway, instead of trying to predict what Alison is going to say, let’s listen!”.

“Thank you, Pat, anyway, as I was saying, we are short of cash and Mike and I have found an extra monetary supplement.” Alison told the ghosts.The Captain looked around impatiently “out with it already!” he exclaimed.

Alison calmly responded, “We have decided that we will allow an acting camp and performance of fourth through sixth graders to happen here at Button Hall.” Strangely and unexpectedly, the room went quiet.“But-“ The Captain protested and all the ghosts began talking loudly.Every ghost was talking at the same time except Robin, who didn’t understand almost anything Alison had just said and was staring wistfully at the chess board.The other ghosts except Pat and Kitty were complaining and Pat was trying fruitlessly to get everybody quiet and Kitty was rambling on about how exciting and new friends.Alison couldn’t hear what most of the ghosts were saying, but she could hear snippets, like:

“You can’t seriously be expecting us to accommodate a group of unruly adolescents!” This was from Julian.

“Ins my day, Wes used to puts actors ins the stocks ands whips them tills their backs bloody” Mary informed her (well, she did live in the Puritan era)

“Children ought to be put to work, not allowed to spend their time frittering away acting like sissies!” The Captain boomed.

“I hope that no ladies shall participate in the play, only prostitutes act in public!” Lady Fanny exclaimed.

“I’m sure Alison wouldn’t have booked it if it were inappropriate or unsafe!” Pat tried to calm his fellow ghosts, but they wouldn’t listen.

Thomas cleared his throat and everybody went quiet. “May I enquire as to what play they will be preforming? Is it A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or an Alexander Pope?”

“Actually no, it’s...” Alison told them before digging her phone from her pocket and scrolling through some things “Let me see, oh, here it is! The Lion King jr, apparently.” She told them and then realized that none of them knew what that was.

“Well, it’s a play about... a lion cub-“ Alison began but Thomas cut her off.”So it is a wordless play?” He inquired. Alison shook her head.”in this play the animals talk like humans.But anyway, it’s about a lion cub called Simba who’s father Mufasa is the king of all the animals in the savanna, but Mufasa’s brother Scar is jealous of his brother and murders him and banishes Simba and Simba goes to the jungle where he meets a meerkat and a wild pig who help him become king of the savanna and Scar is eventually killed by his own minions” Alison informed the ghosts Julian raised his hand “Will the actors be drunk?” and immediately after was whacked with the Captain’s baton.The Captain had a stern look upon his face.”Obviously not, Fawcett, use your brain! They are children for heaven’s sake!” The Captain stood up to the left of Alison “We can handle a few children!” He announced to the group.The Captain turned to Alison, “How many,10, 15?”he casually inquired. “Oh, besides the 20 person orchestra, the 12 person backstage crew, and 2 teachers, only 40 actors.” Alison told them with a smile.The looks on the ghosts faces were priceless.


	2. Acceptance is Key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alison sets the record straight with the ghosts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to dedicate this chapter to highinfibre because they gave the first comment and kudos.Just to be clear, I do not own Ghosts or The Lion King jr. Enjoy!

Alison had to stifle a laugh as she looked at the ghosts faces.Kitty had an eager smile on her face (no surprise there).Robin just looked confused.He didn’t understand why anybody would want to act like a lion or hyena, instead of running away from them.Pat seemed torn on what emotion to display.Mary seemed to be absent mindedly staring into space.

All the other ghosts wore a look of horror on their face.Lady Fanny seemed to be struggling to stand up. “I assume...ladies will be in this..play?” She managed to stutter and when Alison nodded, poor Fanny fainted, but Thomas caught her before she hit the ground.

”You can’t do that!” Julian whined.

”Uh, yes I can,” Alison told him. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the living person here!”

The Captain marched up to Alison and narrowed his eyes but before he. could say anything, Mike poked his head in the door.”Everything alright?” He asked Alison.

Alison smiled at Mike.”Just filling in the ghosts about our plan.”she informed Mike.

”How’re they taking it?” Mike pressed.When Alison gave a nervous laugh, he clenched his teeth and said “You can tell me later” and continued walking.

The Captain meanwhile narrowed his eyes even further and began to tell Alison off before the other ghosts began talking as well, and within seconds the common room was a cacophony of The Captain and Julian complaining about middle schoolers, Thomas ranting about how they simply bypassed the great playwrights in favor of an African folktale, Lady Fanny tirading about how Button Hall was soon to become a camp girl magnet among other incoherent noise.

”EVERYBODY QUIET!!!!” Alison shouted.The room got quiet.”The play rehearsals begin next week whether you like it or not!”

Robin had a look of terror on his face “but—Lion!” He stammered.

Pat shook his head. “Don’t worry Robin.There will be no real lions!” Robin had a look of great relief on his face.

Alison put her hands on her hips.”Ok to make sure everybody behaves during the camp and doesn’t try to sabotage it, Captain, if you act up, NO tank battles ever again, Julian if you misbehave, I’m changing your Wikipedia entry to the original, Robin, any light flickering and no chess for 3 weeks, Thomas, anything from you and I’m not talking to you for a week, And if Fanny acts up, I eat with my hands for a day!” Every ghost that Alison addressed suddenly had a serious expression.

Pat tentatively raised his hand “What about Mary, Kitty and I?”

Alison smiled.”I trust you and Kitty, Pat, and as for Mary, just keep her out of trouble, ok?”

Mary snapped out of her wonderings “I’s cans keeps myself outs of trouble thanks you very much!” She announced angrily.

The Captain was gaping. “That isn’t fair, I behave perfectly!” He complained.

Thomas snorted loudly.”Perfect behavior?”

The Captain pointed his baton. “You’re not the best behaved either, Thorne!” He retorted.

The two men seemed to be on the verge of fighting and Pat pulled them apart.”No need for fighting, just accept it! We might get more privileges if we do!”

The other ghosts seemed satisfied and murmured in agreement.It sounded reasonable and each ghost had something they each wanted.Pat smiled.”Remember everybody, acceptance is key!” 


	3. Sophia and Paolo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ghosts and Alison meet the instructors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is dedicated to my grandmother, Florence (27 December 1934-21 April 2020).A better grandmother could not have lived and I will always remember you.Hope you went to the light like Lady Heather.

A week after Alison had announced her plans to the ghosts, it was time to get acting! The day before, a crew of people had come to set everything up.Most of the play was outdoors but the morning meeting and relaxing was indoors.

Besides that, the instructors drove out to meet Alison and Mike.When the first of the two instructors came up to introduce herself, she hugged Alison and Mike so much that Mike returned to the ground quite disoriented.The instructor was portly with hot pink hair.

”Hi.I’m Sophia, SOOOO nice to meet you! I, like, absolutely love your house! It’s, like SOOOO cute” she gushed in a Californian accent.”By the way, if your, like, wondering, I’m American” she added a bit unnecessarily.

Let it suffice to say Fanny did not like her at all.

Fanny was irate. ”Alison, are you seriously going to let this hussy stay on your property!”

Alison gritted her teeth as she tuned out Fanny. The next instructor was a tall, tan skinned and black haired man who kissed Alison on the cheek. “I Paolo, Musician, Choreographer, and makeup artist.Paolo also working on English, so bella Signora must forgive bad speak.” He introduced himself.Mike groaned and Alison elbowed him.

”It’s perfectly alright, perhaps you’ll learn more English!” Alison assured Paolo.”I’m Alison Cooper, and this is my husband Mike.Say hi, Mike!” Alison told Sophia and Paolo.Mike gave a small wave.

Sophia’s already huge smile widened and she told them all “This is going to be, like, SOOOO fun!


	4. Andreas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andreas Hamilton has problems. Way more than he can handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, before we start, a few things, one, the next few chapters are about the OC’s so the Button Hall ghosts won’t be featured. Two, I am from America, so forgive me if I get some things culturally inaccurate.Feel free to tell me if anything’s really wrong, though. Three, Sophia and Paolo are not meant to be culturally derogatory in any way, that’s just how I decided to make their characters. Four, if you’re wondering, Paolo is based on Paolo from The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot.There is an alcohol reference, though. Enjoy!

Andreas Hamilton pulled himself out of bed at 5am.He was so used to it at this point that his body didn’t even complain anymore.Trying not to wake up his brothers, he quietly showered, dressed, and pulled his shoulder length black and lime green hair into a ponytail.When he got into the living room, his mother was asleep on the couch.She smelled as if she hadn’t showered in a week.

As Andreas headed towards the pantry to get something to nibble on he remembered something: _There’s probably no food left, because mum hasn’t been shopping for two weeks and she’s probably spent the money on wine and her boyfriends._

Anyway, he peered in the pantry, _Sprouting potatoes, stale crackers, vodka, pinto beans._ Out of the corner of his eye, Andreas saw two granola bars.He quickly grabbed those, because if his older brothers got their hands on those, they wouldn’t hesitate to eat them themselves and not leave a crumb for Andreas or his little brother Max.Andreas wrapped one in a paper towel, wrote the word MAX on it in his usual chicken scratch handwriting.He snuck to his room, where Max was sleeping in the bed next to his (Max was a deep sleeper) and but the granola bar in Max’s askew hand.

Andreas silently grabbed his beat up violin case and keys, scratched a note, **Will be out today from 6-4 TAKING THE BIKE ,** so his family wouldn’t worry about him (they wouldn’t care about him, but they’d be annoyed at the bike).He tossed some old carrots and liverwurst in a brown bag for lunch, and headed out the door.As he got on the bike, he slung the violin case over his shoulders using a strap he’d glued to the case.

He didn’t think about much during the bike ride, because he needed all his focus on the road in the dim early morning light.Occasionally he would stop to check he was going in the right direction.It was odd to Andreas to take his phone out freely without checking for his brothers, because if his brothers knew he had a phone, they would demand to use it, and if Andreas said no, they would most likely destroy it.

30 minutes of Andreas focusing on nothing but the road in front of him, it was a soothing relief to some of his problems, and temporarily made him forget.Just him and the early morning commuters.A slight breeze was blowing that Monday, and unfortunately it was blowing from the direction Andreas was pedaling towards, but Andreas liked that.The only thing he thought about was his recent compositions, but he stopped thinking about them when he remembered what his mother would say when she heard them.Many of them were words Andreas would rather not repeat.

Finally, at around 6:30, Andreas pulled into the gates of Button Hall.He took out his phone to quickly check if this was the right place.The address matched exactly, but it didn’t look like somewhere you’d host an acting camp. _Well, I’m a musician anyway and I came here on a technicality, so I shouldn’t complain._   
  
The beginning of student deposition time was 8:30 am, but Andreas just HAD to get out of his house! Hopefully the owners would understand and let him come early each day. _My WHOLE plan depends on this, so please say yes, owners,_ Andreas thought as he held his fist ready to knock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’d you think? Did I get the ‘Andreas’s life sucks‘ message across, or did I over do it? Please, please tell me in the comments! (By the way, don’t get used to two chapters a day)


	5. Annabelle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabelle Ruby loves theatre and making friends.Sometimes too much for her own good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! I’m finally taking this fic off hiatus, and it was so fun to write for.Sorry if this chapter bad or feels forced, I haven’t written for this in quite some time.I just realized that this work a bit out of place because most Summer camps where I live are cancelled.  
> I guess I’m just writing to deal with not going to an acting camp (excuse me, I have to go to my cry corner for a sec).  
> Ahh, that’s better.I guess I will just have to write more fics to cope.Well, for you readers, I guess that’s a good thing.  
> I do not own Ghosts, and Enjoy!

Annabelle Ruby woke up at 6am, happy as usual. _Today is going to be the bestest, funnest, coolest day ever!!_ Annabelle told herself as she leaped out of bed.Then, she took a shower, and pulled on a cheery yellow dress that matched her sunshiny mood.

She skipped into the kitchen, and opened the fridge, thinking about what to have for breakfast.A package of bacon and six eggs caught her eye. _I’ll make a special breakfast for my mum and dad as well! They’ll love it!_

In no time, the six eggs and the bacon were sizzling in a pan, and the delicious smell enveloped the whole house, and it was only a short time before her parents wandered into the kitchen.

”Mmmm, what’s that delicious smell?” Annabelle’s dad asked gleefully.

Annabelle smiled. ”Bacon and eggs.”

Her mom glanced at the pan. “Thanks Annie, you didn’t have to do this.” She told Annabelle 

“It’s nothing,” was Annabelle’s response.

The whole family, Annabelle and her parents, sat down to eat the delicious breakfast.It was good, but at the end, the plates were coated in grease.This didn’t faze Annabelle and she compliantly picked up all the plates and cleaned them.  
”You don’t have to clean up the plates, dear,” her mum said, but Annabelle cleaned them anyway and still loaded the dishwasher.

Annabelle has decided about a week before that she would do her chores in the morning so when she got back at about 5pm, she could practice any lines from the acting camp.It was so exciting!   
Well, more exciting than usual.

Vacuum the living room, wash the towels, sanitize the door handles, mop the back porch, but Annabelle all could think about was camp.She wondered who she was going to make happy today. _That is why I got into theatre after all.To make people smile and be happy._

Next thing she knew, it was 7:20, and it was a bit of a commute, so Annabelle figured it would be a good idea to start getting ready to leave.She packed herself some macaroni and cheese for lunch and green grapes for snack.Her parents didn’t have to remind her of anything, they knew Annabelle was self sufficient.Annabelle picked up her neon pink notebook and rushed out the door to meet her mum in the car.

Annabelle and her mum enjoyed some normal chitchat on the commmute. It was early, so it was still a bit dark, but they could mostly see.They drove a long way through Surrey, and took a wrong turn once or twice, but eventually they found their way.

Her mom held up her phone. “They chose a nice spot, but unexpected.It does look a bit, er, dilapidated.” She remarked.

Annabelle scoffed. “I’m sure it’s fine.It’ll be loads of fun!”

”You think that about everything, don’t you?” Her mum said with a sigh.

”Yep!” Annabelle said with even more optimism than usual.

Once again, her mum let out a sigh.

”What’s wrong?” Annabelle asked concernedly.

Her mum turned to face her. ”Annie, you’re 13.You should know this.”  
“What? I don’t understand!” Annabelle cried.

Her mum rubbed her temples.”Not everything is fun and happy!”

Annabelle still had a smile on her face, but it seemed more forced now.Her mum continued “You are friendly, and that is great.Don’t think I’m trying to say that it’s not good.What I’m saying is that some people aren’t friendly, but they will look friendly but they’re not.Some things are serious and should be treated as such.”

All Annabelle could muster was a weak “Alright mum, I think I understand.” as she blinked back a few salty tears.

Her sadness only lasted a few moments, as student sign in started!

_I hope mum is wrong.Well,here goes nothing!_

“Bye mum!” Annabelle called as she got out of the car.She watched her mum drive down the road to Button Hall and walked to the sign in desk.At the desk was a smiling lady with bright pink hair.

”Name?” She asked.

”Annabelle Ruby,”

The lady offered her hand.”Hi Annabelle. I’m Sophia, the camp instructor!”

”Nice to meet you, Sophia!” Said Annabelle.

”I can tell you are, like, SO excited, and, like so am I!” Sophia gushed. “There are a few students here already, go join them please, and you should meet our other instructor, Paolo, he’s, like, so nice!”

Annabelle walked through the main door, more excited than she thought she’d ever been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S sorry my OC’s are not that original.Tell me what you think in the comments and feel free to leave suggestions for this fic, or you can also leave me a fic idea in general.


End file.
